This invention pertains generally to electronic power supplies and particularly to constant current supplies for solid state diode oscillators.
It is known in the art that a so-called IMPATT diode may be actuated to produce pulses of radio frequency energy by providing a modulator which operates to apply an appropriate D.C. current pule to such a diode whenever a pulse of radio frequency energy is required and which maintains such a diode in a standby condition during each interpulse interval. An example of the required type of modulator is shown and described in my copending U.S. application, Ser. No. 814,744, filed June 30, 1977, entitled "Solid State Power Combiner" and assigned to the same assignee as this application.
While the modulator just referred to has proven to be eminently satisfactory in practice, the physical size and weight of the elements in that modulator militate against its use in applications where the smallest and lightest possible modulators are required. For example, where a relatively large number of IMPATT diodes are to be used to form a source of radar signals for a missile-borne transmitter in an active guidance system, the physical size and weight of each one of the required modulators must be reduced to a minimum.
In addition to the foregoing, it is manifest that the efficiency of any modulator is of primary concern when it is to be used as a component in an assembly such as a missile-borne transmitter. In the referenced modulator, however, the inherent losses in the transformers (used to isolate parts of the requisite circuitry) place a relatively low ceiling on the maximum efficiency of such modulator.